Saving the planet and a few bucks in the bargain

Green products should be Earth- and budget-friendly

By Brennan Cassidy

Most consumers, if given the choice, will go green – as long as that choice is good for their pocketbook as well as the planet.

That’s the premise behind EcoKable, an Earth-friendly technology company finding better and, yes, affordable solutions to the problem of e-waste. Our first product is a patent-pending USB cable to charge cell phones or other devices made with 100% natural cotton insulation and PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) from recycled water bottles.

Most of our lives today are filled with cables, as we charge this or transfer data to that — but while we know what’s on our smartphones or in our hard drive, what’s in the cables they’re attached to? And what happens when we upgrade and discard those cables?

Most of us understand that old computers, phones and drives end up as “e-waste” (electronic waste) that will sit in landfills for hundreds of years, or be incinerated or exported. The same is true for USB cables, most of which are made from toxic polyvinyl chloride, or PVC.

Our USB cable is the first step toward giving consumers more choice in environmentally-friendly electronics. The EcoKable patent-pending design offers the same performance as standard USB cable, but uses natural cotton insulation instead of toxic PVC. That means offering consumers a real choice: two quality products for relatively the same price. Our belief is that consumers will go green if the ‘price is right,’ and that’s the founding principle of EcoKable.

The company is the brainchild of Kristian Rauhala, one of EcoKable’s co-founders. While remodeling his 1950’s house, Kristian discovered that the wiring was insulated with paper, not plastic, yet had remained in functional for more than 50 years. As talks began about founding a new company to address the problem of e-waste, Kristian recalls, “When we started looking into the USB cables, we were shocked not only by the massive volume of hundreds of millions made every year, but also by the fact that they are mostly made of PVC, causing an increasing e-waste problem and harming the environment.”

EcoKable has a recycling program for old PVC cords as well. One of the goals of the company is to have enough old PVC cables to create a piece of artwork, turning e-waste into a thing of beauty.

Now that would be truly priceless.

Brennan Cassidy, co-founder and General Manager of EcoKable, is a dedicated triathlete. His own green ‘aha’ moment came after swimming in the Pacific Ocean and running on trails in Southern California. Wanting to keep our Earth pure as he pushes his body to the limit, he started EcoKable.

EDITOR’S NOTE — EcoKable is offering consumers a 15% discount on any product, with an additional 15% benefiting the Green Schools National Network. Just visit www.ecokable.com/shop and use the discount code “greenschools.”